On Bees (Hardwear Sessions)

By Cynthia Houng

From a distance, the trees appear draped with lace. White lace, spun by expert fingers, then looped over the almonds' grey branches in exuberant swags. Up close, it's not lace, but thousands of tiny, delicate white flowers. The almond trees are in full bloom, and the bees are here.

Look carefully, and you will see stacks of small white boxes, no larger than a banker's box. White, rectangular, they house the honeybees responsible for pollinating acres upon acres of almond trees. If the bees do their job, the almond farmers can look forward--provided that the weather cooperates--to a nice, healthy crop. If the bees fail, then hard times are in order.

Almonds are a major cash crop in California, and 120, the road to Yosemite, is lined with almond orchards. Around Oakdale, the landscape changes, and almond trees and processing plants begin to appear by the side of the road. A full 100% of San Joaquin Valley's almond crop relies upon honeybee pollination. In early spring, local hotels fill up with beekeepers, some traveling thousands of miles, coming from as far away as Florida. Some 2,200 tractor-trailer loads of bees arrive in the San Joaquin Valley during the almonds' bloom period. Anxious growers survey the bees--and reject those that they deem too weak to perform their task.

Bees are expensive. The Almond Board estimates that "bee rentals" comprise some 20% of a grower's annual expenses.

Most years, the pollination business is fraught with anxiety. Almond trees bloom early, towards the end of February and beginning of March. Spring rains and uncertain temperatures mean that the bees may or may not have enough time to complete their task before the almonds finish their bloom. Too much rain, too much cold, and the bees sit idle in their boxes.

This year, however, colony collapse disorder has thrown a new wrench into the delicate process.

Scientists have been unable to pinpoint the cause (or causes) of colony collapse disorder. Since the 1980s, the number of honeybee colonies has been in steep decline. Between 2007 and 2008, American beekeepers lost over 30% of their hives.

Colonies affected by colony collapse disorder (CCD) simply die-off. The bees appear weak and listless. They may even abandon their hives, leaving the young larvae to die. The bees appear to be suffering from nothing--or everything. Scientists hypothesize that CCD may be caused by a virus. Researchers at Penn State University note, "Unlike other diseases that have plagued bees in the past, CCD leaves a hive with a few newly hatched adults, a queen and plenty of food. Researchers suspect a pathogen because while bees will not recolonize a CCD hive, once the hive is irradiated and therefore sterile, bees are happy to live there." Other potential causes of CCD include: pesticides, depressed immune systems, mites, climate change, stress.

Commercial honeybees aren't the only bees disappearing. Native bees are also in decline. The Xerces Society reports that native bee populations began to disappear in the late 1990s. Like their domesticated counterparts, native bumble bees are important pollinators of commercial crops. If our native bees should go extinct, we also lose a wealth of genetic diversity.

The modern world just isn't particularly friendly to pollinators. Sensitive to environmental changes, bees and other pollinators struggle to survive against the odds. Evolution shaped these insects to be sensitive to their environment. Their entire existence depends on a few delicate variables, tightly linked to temperature and climate. As more and more factors disrupt the bees' delicate ecology, they can seem doomed.

And perhaps they are, but we shouldn't let them go without a fight.

American farmers--and even businesses--are beginning to recognize the importance of pollinators. They are starting to understand bees as more than utilitarian instruments. Pollinators are "keystone" species that help hold the ecosystem together. Take away the pollinators, and one is left with largely barren landscapes. Many plants will not fruit or set seed without a pollinator's intervention. The bees--and their brethren--are of inestimable value.

Remember lazy summer afternoons steeped in clover, the air thick with humming bees? Take that memory out into the day. Consider making the bees a home in your world. Plant a cluster of lupines, make room for a wild lilac (Ceanothus) or a native dogwood.

What would our world be, without honey?

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